Well, let's open our Bibles to
Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. And some of the children were
talking at dinner about what an entrepreneur is. And I thought,
I wonder if I opened a food truck or a restaurant, tried to franchise
something, and I only served milk, would I be in business? It'd be a novelty for a little
bit, wouldn't it? I'd have a whole lot of patrons for a little bit,
and then somebody said, can you add some chocolate to that milk?
You got chocolate milk? Nope, just got milk. Well, I
only drink skim milk. I got whole milk, that's it.
I need 2%. All I got is whole milk. You
think business would just be sprawling across the $10 billion
a year company? I don't think so, huh? That's
the way it works. Let's look here at Hebrews 7.
I'll read her text first. We begin in verse 25. Hebrews
7, 25. Wherefore He is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, speaking
of Christ, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became
us. who was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who
needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice
first for his own sins, and then for the people's. For this he
did once, when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men,
high priest, which have infirmity, but the word of oath, the word
of the oath, which was since the law, the son who is consecrated
forevermore. We have a high priest. This is
by whom we are represented, by whom we are saved. Those that are saved will be
in Him, be represented by Him. And to us in this room tonight,
to us that walk this nation, the vast majority of people throughout
the world are Gentiles. And you say, there's a high priest. Might as well be an auto mechanic.
That means nothing to people. People that didn't grow up seeing
this tabernacle, seeing this physical picture of what the
Lord requires to be in His presence, His shaconic glory, who He is
that you're approaching. We didn't grow up with a King
Uzziah that foolishly went in there by himself for what he
knew and what he thought he was going to accomplish and come
out a full-blown leper that the whole nation saw. We didn't have
that. The Lord hadn't given us that. But you know what He has
given us? He's given us His Word. He's come to us in His Word.
This is recorded for us. We can go back and read these
things and meditate on these things. We can take these meals
in that He gives us and have that for nourishment of our body.
We pray for food all the time, don't we? Lord, bless this food. Let's cry to our bodies. Let's
have a message to our bodies. That's what we need blessing.
Food will come and go. It goes out with the drop. The
Lord said so, right? Oh, that's what I need. I need to hear something
from Him. I need to see Him. I hope He
has a meal for us. There are some things that I
know. I know some things. Worldly, I know quite a bit of
things. I know a whole lot. If I pick that glass up and let
go and grab it, He's going to make it go around. Newton figured
that out a long time ago. He made some money off telling
folks that. We know some things. I know some things about the
Lord. I know some things about man. And I can read that. I can
know that by reading it in context And I can understand that by
discernment. The Lord's revealed some of these things to me. They're
not complicated things. This isn't the filet mignon of
meals. This is peanut butter and jelly
sandwich. This is meal. This is basic. And it's safe,
and it's nourishing, and it's good. It's tasty. I want to look
at five quick things this evening. First, God is holy. He is holy. The supreme attribute of God. Tell me about God, one word.
Well, God's love. Well, He is love, yes. God's good. Scriptures
tell us that. No one's good but God. His supreme
attribute, that's the underlying foundation for all of His attributes,
is His holiness. God is holy. That means something.
That's not just a word, that means something. Man's unclean. We saw this morning. That means
he ain't holy. He's sin. That's all we are,
is sin. Man needs an advocate. We need
a mediator. We need a go-between to be saved
from what we are and what we deserve as a proper punishment
for what we are, what God's law demands. And that go-between,
I know this. This is confirmed by the Scriptures.
That go-between, the only hope man has, THE hope, It's Christ. Christ the mediator. Who He is. His holiness is what's required.
And what He did on behalf of His people. He saved some folks.
He did it one way and it was in Him. That's how He did it.
And He did all that for a particular people. For that particular people. That chosen people. His sheep. His body. That salvation is forever
accomplished no matter what. No matter what. No matter what
comes past. Another government took over. No matter that. I got sick. Don't matter. Lost
my mind. Don't matter. I made some horrible
mistakes. I run from God, thinking I could
do it by myself. That didn't matter. I was his.
He got a hold of me and yanked me right back to him. Kicking
and screaming. God is holy. That's the first
thing I want us to look at. It says in verse 26, for such
a high priest became us. We're going to touch on that
in a minute. But it describes this high priest that became
us. Who is holy? That's the first thing listed.
Holy. Christ. God's high priest. His
children's high priest. Our high priest. He is holy.
The same as the Father. He is the Holy God. The Spirit. God the Spirit. The Holy Spirit.
And Christ is the Holy Son. Because the three are one. The Holy Trinity. For such a
high priest became us. What's our representative? All
the fullness of the Godhead was in a body. Jesus crossed our
Lord. The Scripture says, God is in
His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent
before Him. The Scriptures, that's called
the Holy Scriptures. The angels, called His holy angels.
The tabernacle, that's the holiest of holies. Our God is holy. He's unapproachably, infinitely,
immutably holy. And I know that. Holy and reverent
is His name. He declares that. I believe it
and I know it. He's holy. John Gill said He
is holy within and without. Boy, if we need to hear that.
Christ walked this earth as a man, holy. Not just that outside he
never made a mistake, and he was good, and he just did everything
right. What we can't comprehend is internally
he was holy. That's why those priests were
marked under their heads, because that's all he was. That's all
he thought throughout his life was holiness. the Holy One of
Israel, of His people. What else was He? It says there,
He was harmless. He was holy. He was harmless. He was without any defect, any
viciousness. There was no depravity in Him.
Without guile in His mouth. Why was there no guile in His
mouth? Because there's no malice in His heart. Harmless. He did no injury to any man's
property or any man's person. Do you know that? Sinners can
approach Him. What a thought! This holy God
became us. We can run right up to Him. We
can touch His garment. We can wrap our arms around His
ankles and cry on His feet. How approachable, how harmless,
let's a hold of Him without any fear of punishment and death.
That's what we deserve. He's right to do so. We're allowed
to beg mercy from Him. He's harmless. If it's in sincerity,
we can. We can come to Him. His whole
life was lived for others. And the chief priest, the scribes,
the elders, all those hypocrites is all they were. Them wolves,
even in sheep's clothing, halftime open wolves. They knew it. They
knew this. He was harmless. Matthew 27 says,
they chided Him on the cross. He saved others. Himself, He
cannot save. Why won't He come off that cross
and whoop every one of us? He's harmless. We can't enter into
that, can we? If He'd be the King of Israel,
let Him come down now from that cross and we'll believe Him.
You just declared He saved His people. You believe that? You also declared you ain't His
people. Some may say, well, God's a God
of judgment. He sends people to hell. Yes, He did. That's
what we deserve. If we sin against His holy law,
we're met with perfect holy justice. But there's no cause of harm
from the Lord in that, is there? That's just just. That's just
doing what's right. He didn't generate that harm.
We did. That's on our heads. Man tries his best to blame his
sin on anything other than himself. That's an external locus of control
in psychology is what they call that. I failed the test because
the test was too hard. No, I didn't study. What's the
truth? You didn't study. I know I didn't. That's why I'm
coming up with excuses instead of answers. If God sends me to hell, he's
mean. No, he ain't. He's just. He's a holy God. Gotta
get that first, don't we? Gotta learn that. Says he's there,
he's undefiled. What was he undefiled with? He's
undefiled with the sin of Adam. That's whatever one of us are
defiled with, that original sin. He didn't have it. He was born
of a virgin, made as a man. He's 100% DNA of a woman, of
a man. He's 100% God. He's not defiled
with Adam's sin. He's not defiled with all that
blood of those slain beasts that all those priests were sprinkled
with. He doesn't have that on him. He's not defiled with the
filthy conversation of the wicked. That affects the best men. And
that ain't cuss words. People try to live a holy, clean,
squeaky life, not say nothing bad ever. That ain't it. I bet
if you bump into them apostles, boy, your ears are burned. Probably
set on fire out of the parking lot. Unclean things like, God
wouldn't let God. I think, I know, I decided for
Jesus. What blasphemy! That's unclean.
That's unclean words. Defiled words. But our Lord wasn't
defiled. Our high priest wasn't defiled.
And that was proven to. We're given the scriptures for
that. What did Pilate say? I find no fault in him. This
is an innocent man. I dwelled on that quite a bit
today. What can you find fault in? Can you find fault in me? Can I find fault in you? I mean,
just one little old thing, surely, even the best one that walked
up and down Hamoul, California. Maybe we can find just one little
itty-bitty thing that we don't like about them. That's corrupt,
that's defiled. The king, let me tell you something,
you go up to the pecking order, I've met some high-ranking individuals
in this nation. The higher you get in the pecking
order, the more picky they get. Me too. I moved up the food chain
and I started getting more picky. This high ranking man pilot said
ain't nothing wrong with him. He's undefiled. Says there he's
separate from sinners. He was often in the company of
sinners, wasn't he? He was surrounded by them while he was on this
earth. He was reckoned among them. He was counted as one of
them. He was buried with them. Called a winebibber, called a
glutton, called a friend of sinners. That's good news if you're a
wine-bibber, a glutton, or a sinner, isn't it? That's our friend. He's approachable, remember?
But he was separated from them and Adam. That's where he's different
from us. He wasn't made like us. He's
not a man as we are. Not born of Adam. This is proven
in that immaculate conception. He was born of a virgin. How
else was he separate and different from me? How is he different
from you? He was about his father's business.
He communed with his father always. Boy, what a thought. I'm not
about my father's business. People say all kinds of good
things about me. My head ain't going to get fluffed up. Lord
knows just how to put me in my place. I moved across the country. I sacrificed this. I sold that.
Gave up this. Gave up this for my children.
Gave up that for my wife, my family. Oh, what a good guy he
is. I'm not about my father's business
as he was about his father's business. That's the only thing.
He wasn't like us. He spoke to the Father always.
He said, Lord, I know you always hear me, but for their sakes,
I'm going to say this out loud, last verse, come forth. Just
so they could hear. He was about his Father's business.
He was faithful to the Father all the time. A man says, I'm
faithful to God all the time. I'm going to ask you one question,
this will get you. You got a refrigerator? You got a pantry? What are you doing? Well, I need
food for tomorrow. He didn't have a pantry. He didn't
have a deep freezer, did he? I got a deep freezer at the house.
Well, and we start making excuses. Well, I don't want to spend money
on gas to go to the store every day. Uh-huh. Where's his next meal
coming from? From his father, and he knew
it. He trusted him. Why? The Lord said, I'll never
forsake you. You're mine. He knew that. He's God. Had no
fear, no doubt. That's separate from us, isn't
it? We got these vain ideas of this good-looking Caucasian man
that just grins all the time. Oh, he's touched with feeling
our infirmities, yet without sin. Oh, that's what separates
us the most, isn't it? He ain't like us. And it says,
I'm made higher than the heavens. That's a lowercase h, isn't it?
Now speaking of the visible heavens, we have the air where the birds
and the clouds fly around. It's just so majestic. I see
the stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout this universe
displayed. We sat on the front porch the
other day and watched that big thunderhead roll in. Oh, saw the lightning
striking. Heard it rumbling. I ain't seen
that in a long time. You get used to hearing that
all the time. And you hear it again. You hear it in person.
You can talk about it. You used to hear it. You can
remember hearing it, but boy, when you hear that thunder in
person, sitting right in front of you, a little different, isn't
it? That gets you to the bone. Made me think about a lot of
things. Higher than the angels in the heavens, seated on His
throne on high, that's where He is. He's made higher than
the heavens. This holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, high priest, that is holy. Holy. That's a good representative,
isn't it? If you have an advocate, you have a lawyer in court. Anybody
in their right mind, like we looked at this morning, in their
right mind, that's who you want. You don't want yourself. Why
don't you want yourself? Man's not healthy. That's the
second point. We were born with an infirmity.
Mankind is in a desperate need of daily sacrifice for sin. Like we watched when the Lord
washed his feet. He said, you're clean all without. Your whole body,
your head, your arms, your legs, everything you think, everything
you do, you're in me, you're clean, but your feet's dirty
because it's in this world. Every day, because you're a man,
you ain't with me yet, you need cleansing. Look here in verse
27. Who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up
sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's,
he didn't have any. For he did this once for his
people and for himself, when he offered up himself. For the
law maketh men high priests which have infirmity." We have an infirmity. Every son of Adam is a sinner.
Scriptures say, all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. That scriptures teach us that we're sinners. We can read
that to folks. Say, come here, let me show you something. You
ain't as good as mommy said you was. Your sin. You got a little
baby comes and it's a day old baby and it's crying, it's lying
to you. It just wants to be held. It's a sinner. That's how it
comes from the womb speaking lies. We can show that to people
in the scriptures. But our hearts tell us we're sinners. We know
it. People say I ain't that bad.
Yeah, you get you alone on a desert island. Let the Lord deal with
you. You'll know how bad you are. You'll know. We don't love
God as we ought to love God. We don't love one another as
we ought to love one another. We love ourselves. Ain't nobody
loves me like I love me. Kimberly loves me a whole lot.
I love me better. Every one of us do. If everybody
just be like me, we'd be better. Me and my mom used to joke about
it. If everybody was like us, man, this would be a good place
to live. No, it wouldn't. We'd kill everybody else. Chopping
each other's heads off. We're so self-centered creatures.
What we see all about us tells us we're sinners. Everything
around us. Isaiah said, we all like sheep have gone astray,
every one of us. It's easy to see it in other people, hard
to see it in ourselves. We have turned everyone to his own way. Paul
wrote to us, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They're all together
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No! Not
one! None of us. Job said, yea, the heavens are
not clean in his sight. Those beautiful sunsets on the
ocean. Go down to Coronado and watch that sun dip down in the
ocean. Boy, it's nice. Them oranges come out. Every
time we drive home, looking over them mountains. Oh, and that
shadow comes over the mountain. It's beautiful. Beautiful heavens,
aren't they? I stand in amazement of them.
God's holiness in comparison to him. He says, them heavens
are unclean. Them skies we're walking around.
unclean. And then he asks, how much more
abundantly? How much more abominable and filthy is man? If in comparison
those beautiful sunsets are just sin in God's eyes, unclean, can't
be in his presence, how much more so is man which drank the
nicket would be like water? A fish don't know it's breathing
water. It don't know it's wet, does it? It's swimming as hard
as it can. After Isaiah saw the holiness of God, he saw the Lord
high and lifted up, and he cried, Woe is me, for I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips. Now I see. I thought I had knowledge
before. Everything I said was good. Now
I see I'm unclean, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. My family, my loved ones, my
friends, all my co-workers, every one of us is just alike. We don't
see it unless God shows us. What revealed that? What could
show somebody that? For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. We saw Him. We saw His holiness.
That's who we sinned against. A holy God. David said, For I
acknowledge my transgression, my sins ever before me against
thee, and thee only have I sinned and done evil in thy sight. Would
to God we get a glimpse of that. through a dim glass, if we could
understand that. If every person walking up and
down these streets could understand that. All else is going to fade
away. Anything else you think is important, what's going on
in your life, of eating your next meal, that goes away and
now there's a need of a Savior and a High Priest. You need to
go between. If we realize that. The Lord shows us that. That
would be our only desire. The fact that we've sinned against
God and we need Him to save us. We can cause harm against one
another. I can physically hurt someone. I can devour somebody. But that is sin against God. It can cause pain to someone
inside and out. I can say words that hurt somebody's
feelings. I can go up and slap somebody so hard the taste comes
out of their mouth. But that sin I commit is not against you.
It harms you. But it's against the God of heaven
and earth. That's what man ought to get in his head. Woeful Lord,
show us that. Because it's fallen nature, our
fallen acts, our fallen minds, we need someone to approach God
on our behalf. And we need someone to provide
a sacrifice that we cannot bring. We can't approach Him. And even
if we could, even if we could approach Him, the Holy God, we
have nothing to offer. In and of myself, I can't bring
nothing. The blood of bulls and goats,
He has not desired. But my blood ain't gonna do either.
My death ain't gonna do. Of the sacrifices, the best that
men and women can offer, the best we can do, He says it's
a stench in my nostrils. God's holy. Man is unclean. We
ain't holy. And we need an advocate. When
Uzziah, we saw that recently, he went to enter into the presence
of God without a mediator, without a high priest. That physical
tabernacle was given as a picture, as a type of entering the holy
presence of God. That one to enter must be anointed
of God and they must bring the required blood. And all that
was a picture. But before Aaron was ever made
a priest, before that ever came about, Christ was declared the
high priest by an oath. Not by birth, not by appointment
of the church, by an oath of God. The Word of God who cannot
lie. Look here in verse 20, Hebrews chapter 7 verse 20. And inasmuch as not without an
oath, he was made a priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this, with an oath by him that said unto him, the
Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament." He became our surety. I've heard men try
to explain that with a cosign. You go to buy a car and you can't
get one, and your family member or friend signs for you, and
you can't pay it, and they pay it. They pay what you can't pay.
That ain't a good example for us. It's much more than that.
He took us, engulfed us, and we became one with him in a way
that we can't comprehend. Bone of my bone and flesh of
my flesh. As a husband and wife made one, we still don't understand
that in our lives. We're made one with the one that
is our high priest. How can Christ be our mediator,
our surety, the one who bears our sin and becomes one with
us and God remain holy? How can that happen? How can
He remain just and holy and justify sinners? This can't be pretend. It can't be as if, or we're in
a whole worse mess than we can imagine. That's pretending. Look here in verse 26. For such
a high priest became us. Became us. This one who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens. He became us. us, in the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God, in the electing love, Christ being
His elect, the Lord's elect, and us in Him. Christ the firstborn. He was made like as we are, yet
without sin. He was our legitimate and legal
substitute, an effectual substitute. Paul told Timothy, he said, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. Who's sufficient for these things? Who can describe these things?
The way that the Lord works, His goings and His doings, His
moving like the wind. Where does it come from? How
long is it going to be here? Where did it go? If it left here, it's
got to go somewhere, don't it? I don't know. it moves as the
wind. Man doesn't know these things.
Verse 27, here's what he did. Who needeth not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the people's? For this he did once when he
offered up himself. He became us and then he offered
up himself willingly. This one who is able, this holy
one, willingly laid down his life as a man, made like unto
we are. For the law maketh men high priests
which have infirmity, but the word of the oath, that oath we
just read, the Lord said, you are a high priest after the word
of my Kisadek forever. I'm a Lord who doesn't turn. My word ain't
going to go away. Which was since the law, the
son. the Son, maketh in honesty those
interpreters italicize, you can take it out without doing harm,
the Son who is consecrated forevermore. This act of being made His people,
interceding for them, providing His own blood, this Holy One
who is able, He accomplished that atonement, that sin atonement
for His people forevermore. He did it once, in Himself, and
He is consecrated. That means He's blessed, He's
honored, He's sacred, He's holy, and we are in Him forevermore. That's a good substitute, isn't
it? That's a good high priest. Can't ask for no better. Man
couldn't invent nothing no better. Not in our wildest dreams. God's
holy. Man isn't. We need to advocate. We need
to go between a high priest, someone to represent us before
God. Christ is that high priest. Both who He is and what He accomplished
in that office is done forevermore. For a particular people, that
salvation is forever, no matter what. Who is that intercession?
Who is that atonement for? Who does He represent? Look there
in verse 25. Wherefore He is able also to
save them to the uttermost. Who's them? Who is that shall
be saved, that the law demands are cleared from guilt? Them
that come unto God by Him, seeing He liveth to make intercession
for them. These people who are going to
be saved are those who come to God. That's not all it says though,
is it? I know all kinds of people say,
I found God, and I came to God, and I searched God out, and I
pigeon-winged Him, and bent His arm, made Him do what I wanted.
That's not all it says. It says they come to God by Him,
by Christ. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by Him. There's only one way to
God. I hear people talk about, oh,
there's so many ways. We're all going to the same place.
We're taking different roads. I don't want to hurt nobody's
feelings, but that ain't what God says. There's one way. There's only one way to God if
the Bible's true. If the Lord is not a liar, and
man is, there's only one way. Christ declared this. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. Those are definite
articles. The. The way. Not I'm one of a bunch
of ways. I'm the way. I'm the truth. Not
like, well, you have your truth, and I have my truth, and he's
the truth. He's the life. Live your best
life. Man ain't got no life. If we're
going to live, it's Christ. No man cometh to me, to the Father,
but by me, he said. And he said, of the foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. He's our
foundation. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, except for
His name. being in His name. Salvation
is coming to God by, in, through, wrapped in, hugging on to Christ. Being with Him. How much is He
able to save? To the uttermost. To the uttermost. My heart hurts when people say,
I'm just too bad to hear these things. My heart hurts worse
if people don't think they're bad enough. I don't feel that
way. He's able to save to the uttermost
of our sin. How bad could it get? What's
the worst thing you could Google that probably gets taken away
by the FBI or something? What's the worst thing that could
happen? All the way there to the uttermost. And He can save
from that all the way to every requirement of God Almighty.
Fulfilled to the uttermost. That's infinite, isn't it? No
matter how bad it is, that's how the goodness of Christ can
be shown. Christ is able to save someone
in totality, completely. Why is He able to save? It says
there, seeing He ever liveth. He ever liveth and always has
lived because He's God. That's who He is. He lives now
at the right hand of the Father. He lived on this earth as a man,
as our mediator. And He ever lives for what purpose?
He ever lives to make intercession for us, to pray for us, to represent
us. We have an advocate. We have
a representative at the very right hand of God the Father
who is seated right next to Him. He prays for us. This holy God
for a sinner like me, became me, represented me, and forever
represents me and prays for me and makes intercession for me.
What a thought! People say, you get high-minded.
You'll get high-minded if the Lord shows you that. Oh, you're
humbled. You get naked and get down to
Jordan. That's what you do. Strip to everything. You just
bow. You run to Him and worship Him
like that wild man in the tombs, don't you? Paul said, who can
condemn me? Christ died, yea rather, is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. What a promise. What a promise. One of the old writers asked
this question. If you heard Christ in the other room, if our Lord,
our Savior, our King was right on the other side of this door,
and we heard Him, if you heard Him praying for you, Father,
let Bob's faith fail him. Father Biff Kimberley, Lord hold
Brian in your hand. Comfort him. We heard him praying
for us. With what attitude would I go
out and walk across that street? What worry would I carry around
that somebody's going to do something bad? The boogeyman's going to
get me. What foolishness. That's childish, isn't it? Talk
about bedtime stories. Sit around worrying about nothing. believe God, don't believe Him,
but for His people, those who put Him across for the foundation
of the world, those that He died for, He shed His blood for. He
said, Jeremiah, I pray for you. I'll make intercession for you.
What a thought. What a thought. Here's His written
oath. He is able to save to the uttermost
those that come to God by Him, seeing for this cause He ever
lives to make intercession. I wanted to sum this up. I wanted
to make this as plain as I could. As simple as I could. But the
Hebrew writer beat me to it. Did you know that? I labored
hard and I read into chapter 8 just a little bit. It's done
right there, isn't it? Look here at chapter 8 verse
1. Now of the things which we have spoken This is the sum. Everything I just told you, I'm
going to sum it up for you. I'm going to get this down to
bare bones. You can hold it in your pocket. Take it home with
you. You ready? Now the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest. Remember
the one I told you you needed? We have one. We have one just
like that. We have Him. Such a high priest
who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens, the minister of the sanctuary. Minister of
the Sanctuary. That's here on earth. Our goings
and comings. He serves us. And that's those
that are already in glory. Our saints up there. He's with
them. With them always. He's prepared a place for us.
He's becoming us and giving His life for us. He's the Minister
of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle, the Body of Christ,
His Church, where He dwells. How do we become part of that
Church? There's a wonderful gospel message in there. That body of
believers. How does that work? Who does the work to make that
happen? Which the Lord pitched and not man. 39 words there. What a message.
We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in the heavens, the minister of the
sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and man
didn't. I wrote this as a thought of
Paul saying, I speak as a man. Paul was putting in the best
terms that he could, that the Lord had given him to put it.
I can't understand why the Lord would choose such a horrible
sinner like me. He would willfully in His ability
and wisdom become me, walk this earth for me. Why would He do
that? What a humbling thought. I can't
enter into that. But since He's revealed Himself
to me, I have seen Him. I can't see how anyone would
curse Him and turn from Him and run from Him. And like those
men today say, leave our coasts. Get out of here. Get on a boat
and go. How could that be? How could He love a sinner unclean
like I am? And how could somebody not love
Him? What a conundrum. I felt so horrible. I don't know
how to word that. I don't know how to put that in accurate words
so somebody couldn't nitpick. If they want to nitpick something,
they'll find fault with one thing. I'm defiled. They'll find something
defiled in me. But you know, our Lord Christ Himself, twice
in the scriptures it says He marveled. He marveled. I don't know how that's possible.
The One who created all things, rules all things, He marveled.
Once He marveled at someone's faith. He said, what marvelous
faith. Shocking. And you know what the
other thing He marveled at? Their unbelief. How can they not believe
this? You who see, He is able. We have
a high priest. He's on His throne in glory right
now, and He's making intercession for us, and He's ministering
to all our needs, and will forevermore be all and in all to His people. God pitched it. He sealed it,
inside and out, just like the ark, and man didn't do that.
Man didn't do it. That's a God-dang bow to it. That's one way to worship. That
deserves worship. Amen.